Tennessee religious right leader claims that government belongs to God

According to David Fowler of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, government belongs to God and Christians are the stewards of government power.

Fowler is a former member of the Tennessee state senate who has built a reputation for his stances against LGBT equality and belief that intelligent design should have a place in the science classroom because it "[...] is a theory that many scientists are beginning to consider and hold because of the weaknesses in the scientific evidence supporting evolution."

In a video released on January 26, Fowler is shown telling his audience:

But there's something I think more fundamental and more shocking and more alarming and more compelling, and it is this: That power belongs to God.

If we really believe what we say we believe, then all power and all authority in heaven and earth is His, because He said He gave it to Jesus. And all power and all authority, wherever it's exercised, within this school, within our homes, within our businesses and in government belongs to God. It is His.

And what are we called to do but to steward what God gives us?

It's interesting that in the church you will hear lots of sermons on being a faithful steward of our money, our time and our talents, but we never hear about the faithful stewardship of the authority that God has entrusted to us as elected officials and as citizens.

Fowler's Family Action Council "is committed to helping Tennesseans develop a strong, biblical worldview that can be applied in the real world. Too often even devoted, born-again, church-attenders have a worldview in which they think biblically on religious topics, but they think in worldly terms when it comes to other topics such as ethics, evolution, history, politics, finances, work, marriage, parenting, entertainment, etc." The group is aligned with Focus on the Family's "Truth Project" which defines a "biblical worldview" as "[...] based on the infallible Word of God. When you believe the Bible is entirely true, then you allow it to be the foundation of everything you say and do. That means, for instance, you take seriously the mandate in Romans 13 to honor the governing authorities by researching the candidates and issues, making voting a priority."

About D. Beeksma

One of the growing crowd of American "nones" herself, Deborah is a prolific writer who finds religion, spirituality and the impact of belief (and non-belief) on culture inspiring, fascinating and at times, disturbing. She hosts the God Discussion show and handles the site's technical work. Her education and background is in business, ecommerce and law.